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Angela Mihai

Professor Angela Mihai

Professor of Applied Mathematics, Director of Research

School of Mathematics

Campuses
Abacws, Room 5.14, Senghennydd Road, Cathays, Cardiff, CF24 4AG

Overview

I am a mathematician with a general interest in applied and computational mathematics at the interface with engineering and natural sciences. 

At Cardiff, I am a member of the Applied and Computational Mathematics Research Group and Director of Research and Innovation in the School of Mathematics. 

I am also Vice President of the UK and Republic of Ireland Section of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM-UKIE).

Publication

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2011

2010

2009

2007

2006

2005

Articles

Book sections

Books

Conferences

Research

My main research is in the mathematics of soft materials, including multiscale modelling, limit states analysis, optimisation, and uncertainty quantification. In recent years, my research focus has been on stochastic elasticity. This is a fast-developing field at the forefront of interdisciplinary research and strategic developments in continuum mechanics combined with statistics and applied probability. For further details, please see my profiles on Google ScholarMathSciNetORCID and ResearchGate

Funded projects

Mottoes to papers

  • "The task of the theorist is to bring order into the chaos of the phenomena of nature, to invent a language by which a class of these phenomena can be described efficiently and simply." - C. Truesdell (1965) (doi: 10.1098/rspa.2017.0607)
  • "This task is made more difficult than it otherwise would be by the fact that some of the test-pieces used have to be moulded individually, and it is difficult to make two rubber specimens having identical properties even if nominally identical procedures are followed in preparing them." - R. S. Rivlin & D. W. Saunders (1951) (doi: 10.1007/s42558-019-0013-1)
  • "Instead of stating the positions and velocities of all the molecules, we allow the possibility that these may vary for some reason - be it because we lack precise information, be it because we wish only some average in time or in space, be it because we are content to represent the result of averaging over many repetitions [...] We can then assign a probability to each quantity and calculate the values expected according to that probability." - C. Truesdell (1984) (doi: 10.1177/1081286520914958)
  • "It is a problem of mechanics, highly complicated and irrelevant to probability theory except insofar as it forces us to think a little more carefully about how probability theory must be formulated if it is to be applicable to real situations.” - E. T. Jaynes (1996) (doi: 10.1088/1361-6544/ab7104)
  • "Denominetur motus talis, qualis omni momento temporis t praebet configurationem ca- pacem aequilibrii corporis iisdem viribus massalibus sollicitati, ‘motus quasi aequilibratus’. Generatim motus quasi aequilibratus non congruet legibus dynamicis et proinde motus verus corporis fieri non potest, manentibus iisdem viribus masalibus.” - C. Truesdell (1962) (doi: 10.1093/imatrm/tnz003)
  • “Of particular relevance here is the fact that technology of people must be different from that of nature simply because the two span different size scales [...] Everyday terms such as ‘assembly’, ‘polymer’, ‘blueprint’, ‘safety factor’, ‘design’, and ‘intended application’ were meant for our production systems, and we run considerable risk of self-deception when we use them for natural systems.” - S. Vogel (1998) (doi: 10.1007/s42558-023-00051-y)

Video recordings

Cover image

Teaching

I am a fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. My teaching at Cardiff University is in Applied Mathematics.

Courses taught

  • Introduction to Mathematical Modelling of Liquid Crystal Elastomers
    • PhD-level Mathematics (2023 - 2024)
  • Numerical Analysis
    • Year 2 Mathematics (2013 - Present)
  • Finite Elasticity
    • Year 3 Mathematics (2020 - 2022)
    • Year 4 MMath (2015 - 2020)
  • Classical Mechanics
    • Year 1 Mathematics (2012 - 2017)

Biography

Career overview

I started my mathematical journey as an undergraduate student at the University of Bucharest, Romania, and later continued my studies at the University of Cambridge, UK. In 2005, I earned my DPhil for research in numerical analysis from the University of Durham, UK. I then expanded my expertise as a postdoctoral researcher at the Universities of Strathclyde, Cambridge, and Oxford, concentrating on mathematics and mechanics of solids. I joined Cardiff as a University Lecturer in 2011 and steadily progressed to my current academic role.

Honours and awards

Professional memberships

Committees and reviewing

Supervisions

Postdoctoral researchers

Current supervision

Rabin Poudel

Rabin Poudel

Research student

Past projects